Towards Semi Automated Pre-assembly for Aircraft Interior Production

Abstract

AbstractThe growing aviation market puts first tier suppliers of aircraft interior under great pressure. Cabin monuments, not only consist of various assemblies with a wide range of parts, they are also highly customized by the airliners. Historically grown, poorly optimized manual processes offer the required flexibility, but limit the production rate of the individual products. The aviation industry responds with an increased use of automation technology. Recent standardization and automation approaches for efficient manufacturing, lead to an increase in productivity of these low volume products. However, complementary approaches to increase the degree of automation during assembly of aircraft interior components are missing. To reach a higher degree of automation this paper presents a derivation of cabin specific assembly processes with a varying degree of automation. First the range of components and processes in pre-assembly is analyzed with respect to automation. Based on the analysis, components and processes are classified in standardized groups. Fully automated and flexible automation processes are introduced to develop a semi-automated system. Furthermore, the required flow of information is described. Discussion of the results shows that the presented solution allows a flexible pre-assembly of low-volume interior parts and sets a baseline for further digitalization approaches.